Coin-controlled package-dispensing apparatus



W. P. DUN LANY. COIN CONTROLLED PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22, I913.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

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APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22,1913- 1,33635 14. Patented Apr. 13, 1920. 5 snaers-smer 2. F295 F W. P. DUN LANY. COIN CONTROLLED PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

- APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22,1913- 1,336,514, Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

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APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22. I913. 1,336,514.

Patented Apr; 13, 1920. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- Fi 7- y M W. P. DUN LANY.

' COIN CONTROLLED PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED 05c. 22, 1913.

1,336,514, Patented Apr. 13,1920.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

llllll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM P. DUN LANY, OF HAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

COIN-CONTROLLED PACKAGE-DISPENSING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr; 13 1920 Application filed. December 22, 1913. Serial No. 808,099.

ToaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM 1P. DUN LANY, a citizen of the United States, residing in Maywood, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Coin-Controlled Package-Dispensing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in coin-controlled package dispensing apparatus.

Objects of the invention are to provide a coin-controlled vending machine so arranged that the packages may be dispensed from any one ofv a plurality of reservoirs by depositing a coin in a slot common to all the reservoirs; to provide a vending machine which is provided with means for preventing the discharge of a package when a coin of the wrong size or denomination.

or a slug is put into the machine; to provide means for automatically indicating whether or not each of the reservoirs has any packages therein or is empty; and to provide a vending" machine substantially all the parts of which are formed from stamped sheet metal. Q

The invention furthermore consists in the improvements in the parts anddevices and in the novel combinations of the parts and devices herein shown, described or claimed. 1

In the drawing forming a part, of this specification, Figure 1' is a side elevation of a 'vending machine embodying my improvements.

' Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 5. Fig. 4 is a similar section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 5, Figs. 3 and 4 being upon enlarged scales. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 .is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sectional views showing the operating key and associated mechanism, Fig. 7 showing the parts 1n normal position and Fig. 8 showing the parts after one of the keys has been operated and a package about to be discharged. Fig. 9 is a detail vertical section taken substantially on the line 9-9 of Fig. 4, and Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views of two of the parts.

.the cut away upper end 34 0 a lever 35 pivoted on a sta- Fig. 2 is a front elevation.

mounted an outer shell or casing 21, the latter, in its front face, having a coin-receiving slot 22 and a window 23. Within the outside casing, are four spacedfivertically extending rectangular reservoirs 24 in whichare adapted to be stored the pack ages of peppermint or other condiment to be dispensed, such packages being indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5 at 25 and in full in Figs. 7 and 8. The packages from all the reservoirs are discharged onto an inclined floor 26, see Fig. 8, and arertaken from the machine through the opening 27 in the front face thereof.

Inside the casing to the rear of the coinreceiving slot 22 is pivotally mounted a coin-receiving chute 28, the same being pivoted on a fixed rod or pin 29. The upper wall of the chute 28 is recessed as indicated at 30, 30 in Fig. 10 and in normal position the ends of a horseshoe magnet 31 project slightly therethrough, the magnet acting to hold any slug or piece of metal acted u on by magnetism. Nickels, by which t is machine is primarily adapted to be operated, are, of course, not affected by the magnet and pass readily thereby. A nickel having been forced through the slot 22 will fall down the chute 28 and come to rest in the ta cred bottom thereof as indicated at 32 in ig. 6, the chute being cut away on its under face as at 33. Projecting slightly into the recess formed by ortion of the chute is the cated at -43 and 44, the notch 43 being longer than the notch 44, for a purpose hereinafter specified. Normally positioned in the slot 43, is a lug 45 formed integrally With the-lever 35 and within the notch 44 normally projects another lug 46 formed integrally with the lever 35 at its lower end, it being noted that the lug 46 is closer to the shoulder 47 formed at the top of the slot 44 than is the lug 45 to the correspondage 25 onto the inclined floor 26. v

oted lever 50 is connected to itsassociated ingshoulder 48. The rod 41 is held 1n its uppermost or normal position by a spring 49 secured to'the top thereof and to a stationary part of the casing. As will be understood, the foregoing described mechanism is located centrally .of the machine between two of the reservoirs, see Fig. 4. For each reservoir, the number of which maybe increased or decreased as desired, there is a pivoted operating lever or key 50, each of which is provided with a finger piece or button 51 which projects out through the casing and which is pressedby the operator when a coin has been placed in the machine. Each pivoted lever 50 has detachably and pivotally connected therewith a yoke 52, the arms of whichv extend around the walls of the reservoir with which it is associated and thev rear piece 53 of which engages in slots 54 formed in the side walls of a pivoted trap door 55, the rear member 53 of the yoke forming a detachable pivotal connection therewith. Each trap door 55-is normally in the position shown in Fig. 7 and is so held by a pair of springs 56. When the lever 50 is depressed to its full amount, the yoke 52 will be pulled forward, thereby tilting the trapdoor to. the inclined position shown in Fig. 8 and dumpin}g a packach pivyoke 52 by a spring 83 to prevent parts becoming separated and, as will be understood, when a trap door 55 is returned to normal position, it will retract the yoke therewith I and the latter in turn will move the lever or key 50 to its normal position, the latter 'bein stopped by a rearwardly and downwar 1y projecting lug 57 which engages a horizontal partition 58, the latter having suitable openings therein through which the trap doors are movable to deliver the -pack-. ages.- Common to all of the operating levers 'or keys 50, is-a pivotally mounted U-shaped' bar 59, the latter being suspended on a trans ,versely extending rod 60. The bar 59 .is operated b each and all of the keys, whenever one 0 the latter is depressed to its full extent, by u wardly extending lugs 61 on each key. lso pivotally mounted on the rod 60, and near thecenter of the machine,

is a bell crank lever 62, the depending arm of which is engaged by said U-shaped bar 59, see Fig. 5. The other arm of said bell crank lever is pivotally connected as at 63,

to the lower end of the bar 41 and by which the latter is operated.

The operation of the parts so far described is as follows: When a nickel is dropped'into the chute 28, it will come to rest at the point indicated .at Fig. 6 and will be engaged by the upper end of the lever 35. When one of the operatlng levers 50 is, depressed,'it

will swing the bar 59 forwardly and the latter in turn will swing the bell crank 62 which causes a downward movement of the to be withdrawn from the slot 44 and the downward movement of the bar 41 will be unobstructed until the shoulder 48 engages with the lug 45 and thereby releases the coin, since the lever 35 will be moved from engagement'therewith. The coin being thus released, will fall and be deflected by the partition 64 past the' glass window 65 against another partition 66 and by the latter will be guided through an openin 67 into the coin-receiving chamber 68. or-

-mally there is a spring-controlled pivoted trap door 69 to hold a bad coin in front of the window 65 but when a good coin has been placed in the chute, the downward movement of the rod 41 will open the trap door 69 by means'of a shoulder 70 which engages the trapdoor and opens it. The

foregoing described operation will permit the operating lever or key 50 to be swung downwardly to its full extent, as shown in Fig. 8, which in turn will cause a tilting of the trap door 55 and discharge a package as hereinbefore described. In case a cent or a dime is inserted through the slot into the coinchute 28, it will fall through the chute and will not be held at the lower end thereof and will be deposited upon the of the fact that no coin engages the upper end of the lever 35, the-latter will not be moved and consequentlythe shoulder 47 on the bar 41 will engagethe lug 46 and be prevented from further movement. This in turn prevents a complete depression of the operating lever 50 and consequently the trap door 55"will not be tilted and no package will be discharged. When a slug has been caught by the magnet 31, the slight initial movement allowed the pivoted coin chute 28,

will strip the slug from the ma et and allow it to pass down the chute an the slug will fall through the openin in the bottom thereof and be deposited on 5w trap door 69 vented except in the cases where the proper coin has been used.

In order to prevent the slmultaneous operation of !two or more operating levers or keys when a nickel has been inserted in the machine, I provide a plurality of loosely and independently slidable bars 71, see Fig. 9. These barsare mounted in slotted tangs 72 struck up from the horizontal partition 58. Each of the bars 71 is beveled at its ends, as shown at 7 3, and their lengths are so proportioned that the beveled ends thereof are normally positioned beneath the keys 50. The end keys project slightly below the tops of the end bars 71 so that the latter cannot be pushed out therebeyond. \Vhen an end key is depressed, all the bars 71 will be slid along until the bar at the opposite end comes into engagement with the key at that end and just enough clearance will be provided to permit the key being operated to pass by the end of the bar 71 adjacent thereto. When an intermediate key is depressed, the bars will be separated until the end members thereof come into engagement with the end keys and clearance will be thereby provided for the passage of the key being operated upon between the ends ofthe bars 71 adjacent thereto. In this way, it will be seen that only one key at a time may be depressed since thereis only clearance enough for one key at a time. In front of each reservoir there is pivotally mounted an indicator 74, said indicators being mounted on a transversely extending rod 75. Each indicator is provided with a depending projection 76 which normally projects into the path of the packages 25 and the indicator is thereby held in the position shown in Fig. 7. Each indicator is inscribed with the word Empty and with the name of the condiarranged as shown inFig. 11. When there are packages in the reservoir, the indicator will be held, as shown in Fig. 7, with the name (peppermint) opposite a window 77. When, however, no packages are in the corresponding reservoir, the indicator will fall by gravity and the inscription Empty will appear before the Window 77. "In this way, the {purchaser is apprised of the fact that the reservoir corresponding to the key which he wishes to operate contains packages or is empty.

In order to prevent more than one package being, discharged at a time from any reservoir, there is provided a plurality of spring-controlled detents 78, one for each reservoir. Each detent 78 has a projection 79 thereon which works through a slot 80 in the rear wall of the reservoir, said projection 79 being normally held from engagement with the packages in the reservoir by the rear arm 53 of the corresponding yoke 52, the normal position of the detent 78'being as shown in Fig.- 7. When a key 50 is depressed and the trap door 55 tilted therewith, the yoke 52 will be moved from engagement with the detent 78 and the projection 79 on the latter will engage the lowermost package remaining in the reservoir as shown in Fig. 8. Atthe same time, the depending lug 76 of the indicator 71L will engage the lower front corner of the lowermost package remaining in the reservoir and the package will thus be frictionally held by the detent 79 and the lug In order to. prevent tampering with the mechanism or removal of a coin after the same has been inserted through the coin slot, the bar 41 is provided with a projection 81, see Fig. 5, which covers the slot 22 when the bar 41 is pulled downwardly.

From the preceding description it will be seen-- that I have provided a vending machine of relatively few parts and simple arrangement, and so designed that the majority of the parts may be formed from stamped sheet metal.

I have herein shown and described my improvements as adapted for vending packages of peppermint but, as will be under stood, the machine may be readily adapted for dispensing other styles of packages. It is also evident that the number of reser voins may be increased or decreased by either duplicating or omitting the keys and directly associated parts therewith for each reservoir. And although I have herein shown and described in detail what I now consider the preferred embodiment of my improvements, yet changes and modifications other than those herein suggestedmay be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and all such changesv and modifications are contemplated as come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.- 1

I claim:

1. An apparatus of the character de-.115

scribed comprising, in combination: means for discharging one article at a time from a stack of articles; and coin-controlled mechanism governing the operation of said means, said mechanism including a movable bar, a detent adapted to prevent full movement of the bar when no coin is present, and a coin chute moved-by said bar and adapted 1 to position a coin inserted therein to actuate said detent to inoperative position and permit full article-discharging movement of the bar, substantially as specified.

2. An apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: means for discharging one article at a time from v a coin to operate said detent, substantially as specified.

3. An apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: means for discharging one article at a time from a stack of articles; and coin-controlled mechanism governing the operation of said means including a reciprocating bar, a pivoted detentadapted to engage and prevent full movement of the bar when no coin is present and a movably mounted coin-chute moved by said bar and adapted to position a coin therein to engage said detent when the coin-chute is moved to thereby move the detent to inoperative position relatively to the bar, substantially as specified.

4. An apparatus of the character described comprising, in combination: means for discharging one article at a time from a stack of articles; coin-controlled mechanism governing the operation of said means including a notched reciprocating bar, a pivoted lever having a projection normally positioned in said notch and adapted to prevent-full movement ofthe bar, and means operatively connected with said bar adapted to move said lever to inoperative position through the instrumentality of a coin, substantially as specified.

An apparatus of the character .de-

scribed comprising, in combination: means for discharging one article at a time from a stack of articles; and coin-controlled mechanism governing'the operation of said means including a reciprocating bar, a pivoted lever, said lever and bar having cooperable means adapted to normally prevent full movement of the bar, a pivotedcoin-chute adapted to position a coin to engage one end of said lever, and connections between said bar and the chute for swinging the latter with the coin therein to move the lever to position, substantially as speci- .mally prevent full movement of the bar, a

pivotally mounted coin-chute adapted to position the coin therein adjacent one end of said lever and in engagement therewith, and a connection between the bar and the coin-chute adapted to swing the latter with I the coin therein and thereby swing the lever sothat the projection thereon is moved from the path of the shoulder on the bar to permit full movement of the latter, substan tially as specified.

7. An apparatus of the character described comprising pivotally mounted operating keys; coin-controlled mechanism governing the movements of said keys, said mechanism including a pivotally mounted bar adapted to be operated by each of said keys, a reciprocating bar operated by said pivoted bar, and a coin actuated detent controlling the movements of said reciprocating bar; and means for preventing the simultaneous operation of a plurality of said keys, substantially as specified.

8. The combination of a movable coin chute, a movable part which is connected with and may actuate said chute, a locking element cooperating withsaid part to permit its chute-actuating movement and holding said part from article-releasing further movement and arranged to be engaged and operated by said chute through the medium of a coin in the latter, and finger keys having means for actuating said movable part and normally held thereby from article-releasing movement, said keys having connections whereby they may release articles.

Signed this 18th day of December, 1913,v

in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM P. DUN LANY. Witnesses: A Y I JOSEPH HARRIS, WILLIAM A, GEIGER; 

